Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a license management.
Description of the Related Art
Methods for giving licenses for commercial software include a node-locked method and a floating method. In the node-locked method, a computer of a user directly obtains a license from a license server, so that the computer is associated with the license, and accordingly, the computer that has obtained the license can use the software. The license associated with the computer is configured not to be allowed to be used by computers other than the computer that has obtained the license.
On the other hand, the floating method is a method in which a license server pooling a certain number of licenses in advance leases a license to a client. A license (floating license) managed by the floating method is returned back to the license server when each client terminates the use of the corresponding software. Therefore, another client thereafter borrows the returned license, so that the same software can be used on the another client. The number of licenses that can be leased to multiple clients at a time is limited by the number of licenses (certain number of licenses) pooled in the license server. However, a license is borrowed only when the software is used, and therefore, if multiple clients use the software at different points in time, the software can be used on a number of clients which are the number of pooled licenses or larger. In general, only some of the employees such as a system administrator of a company which purchased the software perform management of licenses according to the floating method.
A relationship between a license and a version of software will be described. FIG. 10 of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2015-014817 indicates that an application identification (ID) and latest version information are associated with each other and registered to a license server, and when a start request is received from a personal computer (PC), a guidance of version update is given in a case where the software in the PC is an older version. However, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2015-014817, only the guidance of the version update is given, and it is up to a user's operation on each client PC whether the version of the software is actually updated. Further, in Japanese Patent Application. Laid-Open No. 2015-014817, the number of PCs that can start software at a time is managed in association with the application ID. In other words, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2015-014817, for software having the same application ID, a common floating license is used even with different versions. More specifically, software of an obsolete version can be used even if the user of each client PC does not update the version of the software, and therefore, some users may not perform upgrade work of the software.
On the other hand, from the perspective of operations and maintenance of software, a system administrator of a company which purchased software wishes to unify the versions of the software used by the clients into a single version. However, the technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2015-014817 relies on whether the user of each client PC performs the upgrade work of the software, and therefore, it may be impossible to make the software of each client PC into a single version.
For this reason, it is considered to introduce the version to the license according to the version of the software. More specifically, it is considered to allow software to be started only in a case where the version of the license and the version of the software match each other. When the system administrator upgrades the version of the license managed by the license server, the version of the software that can be started on each client can be limited.
However, in a case where the software is allowed to be started only in a case where the version of the license and the version of the software match each other, and the system administrator updates the version of the license managed by the license server, the following matters will occur. When the system administrator upgrades the license of the license server before the client upgrades the software, a license of an older version required for the software of the old version is erased from the license server even though a client is starting the software of the older version, and therefore, the software that is in the process of starting will not operate. In other words, when the license managed by the license server is replaced with a license of a new version, this is disadvantageous for the client that is using the software of the older version.
For example, suppose that there is an environment in which the client operates software of version 2, and the license server holds the license of version 2. Then, in a case where the system administrator upgrades the license existing in the license server from version 2 to version 3, the license of version 2 required for starting of the client is erased from the license server. Therefore, the software of version 2 cannot be started on the client. In other words, when the license managed by the license server is replaced with a license of a new version, this is disadvantageous for the client that is using the software of the old version.